Stripe Your Stash to Make an Easy Blanket

I have this giant stash busting garter stitch blanket that I’ve been working on (if you can call it that) for probably 15 or 20 years by now. I’m not sure it’s correct to say I’m working on it, because it usually only comes out in the winter when I’m not working on anything else and I want to use it as a blanket while I’m knitting it.

While you are here, check out this Knitted Patchwork Blanket from our sister site.

It’s made of strips of garter stitch, but I’m joining them together as I knit them (by knitting the edge stitch on my needle together with the edge stitch on the previous strip). It’s a satisfying and relatively mindless way to use up scraps, and my goal is that it will one day be 6 feet square (1.8 meters). Hopefully sometime in the next 15 or 20 years!

If you want to make a simple blanket but don’t want to have to lug around the whole thing as you work on it, the striped blanket from The Knitting Squirrel is a great option.

It, too, is made of odd balls and garter stitch, but this one is done in panels that aren’t joined until they are done. (And the way that’s done is pretty clever, too!) This one is done in sock yarn that was made into magic balls before knitting, but you could use whatever yarn you have a lot of and either make the panels narrower or make fewer of them, or just make your blanket whatever size works for you.

Read more about magic balls here if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

My version is worsted weight and alternates between panels of 12 and 24 stitches, so that’s also an option you could try to mix the colors up even more.

Check out the free pattern at The Knitting Squirrel for all the details.

[Photo: The Knitting Squirrel]

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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